POSRI (POSCO’s Research Institute) has released a report forecasting that in Q2 2018, South Korea's steel production and sales are expected to remain stable. The company expects iron ore prices to be between $65-70/mt in Q2 2018 following the US import tariffs, down from $74/mt in Q1. Coking coal prices on PHCC are expected to be between $180-190/mt in the Q2 2018, down from $229/mt in the previous quarter.
The same trend is also reported by an analysis from Trading Economics. Steel production in South Korea increased to 6.095 million mt in March, from 5.416 million mt in February of 2018. Steel production for Q2 2018 is expected to average 5.730 million mt monthly during the quarter, 5.779 million mt monthly in Q3, and 6.220 million mt in Q4. According to World Steel Association figures, South Korea produced 71.1 million mt in 2017, a monthly average of 5.925 million mt.
In the long term, the South Korean steel production is projected to trend around 6.410 million mt monthly in 2020, or reach 76.92 million mt for the year, according to forecasts by Trading Economics.